The colourful history of Canberra's pink ponds

An azolla-covered dam at Strathnairn. Inset: Rose Higgins of Kambah strikes a pose at the 'red' dam in Cooleman Ridge Nature Reserve. Pictures by Janis Norman, Tim the Yowie Man

This column's recent colourful splash of a floating fern on the pond at Cooleman Ridge Nature Reserve that turned a crimson hue attracted a bulging mailbag.

Most readers were upbeat about the occurrence of the native Ferny Azolla (Azolla pinnata) in some of our suburban ponds. "It really brightens up the walk," states Steven Brown of Kambah who, after reading about it in this column, stepped out on the track at Cooleman Trig Nature Trail to check it out for himself.